EQUITIES
S&P 500 Index : $2,749.98, gain 90.57 points or 3.41%
Dow Jones Industrial Average : $23,433.57, gain 779.71 points or 3.44%
Nasdaq Composite Index : $8,090.90, gain 203.64 points or 2.58%
Mixed reaction in Europe exchanges as London's FTSE 100 down -0.47%, Germany's DAX down -0.23% and Italy's closed -0.18% lower. Meanwhile, France's CAC 40 up 0.10%.and pan-European Stoxx 600 index gain 0.02% closed Wednesday.
Asian markets are open cautious in early trade. Japan's Nikkei 225 shed -0.26%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng recording -1.17%, China's Shanghai Composite -0.19%, and SENSEX recording -0.58%. Alternately, Singapore’s gain 1.73%, South Korea’s KOSPI 1.71%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gain 1.51% in early trading.
OIL
Brent crude futures ended the session higher on Wednesday at $32.84 per barrel, gain 3.04% while WTI crude futures gain 6.18%, to $25.09 per barrel.
Currently, Brent is trading at $33.69 per barrel and WTI is trading at $26.26 per barrel as of writing time (UTC+8).
CURRENCIES
The U.S. DXY previously closed 100.16 and stand at 100.12 latest, compared with a basket of its major peers.
Against most of other currencies, dollar traded lower, including against GBP (-.0.14%), NZD (-0.14%), DKK (-0.13%), NOK (-0.13%), MXN (-0.11%), EUR (-0.09%), AUD (-0.06), CHF (-0.05%), CAD (-0.02%), and SEK (0.03%).
U.S. dollar is in green against some other currencies, including JPY (0.13%), RUB (0.03%), and SGD (0.01%),
GOLD
Gold currently trading at $1,647.50 per ounce, while stands around $1,682.80 per ounce for gold futures of writing time. Previously closed at 1,637.50 and 1,682.89 respectively.
Silver trading at $14.98, platinum trading at $735.00 and palladium trading at $2,060.00.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Stocks surged on Wednesday, with the major averages spending the entire session in the green, fuelled in part by Senator Bernie Sanders dropping out of the presidential race, as well as hopes that the coronavirus outbreak may soon turn a corner.
Claims for unemployment benefits last week are expected to total about 5.25 million. Together with the claims filed in the past two weeks, the total could now surpass 15 million. The claims initially were expected to have come from millions who lost their jobs in restaurants and travel-related fields, but now they are likely to include hundreds of thousands of retail workers. Economists say there could be more longer-term and permanent layoffs included in more recent claims, as companies look to trim costs.
All eyes are now on OPEC+ meeting that is scheduled later today, that will be done via video conference. Expectations from the meeting is that the world's largest oil producers would agree to cut production.
To date, number of confirmed worldwide cases for COVID-19 pandemic has now reached more than 1,512,000 today affecting 209 countries and territories around the world, recording more than 86,000 fatality globally.
TECHNICAL OUTLOOK
[GBPUSD]
The price reached the resistance line and again fell to the support line. We expect another such repeated movement for some time, except there’s appalling news such as on OPEC+ meeting, monetary policy and PM’s condition at hospital.
